"She was a woman of high principles, of unswerving loyalty to her family, her friends and her employers."

Updated 12 Oct 2020

Obituary from the Chico Record newspaper at the time she passed away:
Ida Allwardt Simmons Banta
"Entered the employ of the Chico Record newspaper in 1921 as a clerk. Though her capabilities and untiring study and efforts she became chief accountant and thoroughly familiar with all the details of the business. As such she made contacts with innumerable Chico citizens, all of whom held her in high esteem. Remarried, William Taylor Banta in Reno, Nevada, on March 14, 1930. Was a widely known and highly regarded Chico business woman. She was a woman of high principles, of unswerving loyalty to her family, her friends and her employers. The latter reposed in her the utmost confidence to which trust she responded to her fullest capacity.
In March, 1945, she was stricken suddenly ill and was forced to retire to her home at 330 Oak Street in Chico. Although she was given the best of care and medical attention she was unable to return to her duties and was finally taken to San Francisco for diagnosis and treatment. Passed away in San Francisco, California at the Stanford-Lane Hospital (Stanford School of Medicine, 2398 Sacramento Street), late Saturday following an operation for a brain tumor. She had been taken to the hospital early in the week for treatment. Had worked for the Chico Record almost 25 years. At the time she left the Record in spring 1945 due to failing health, she had attained the position of Chief Accountant.
Funeral at 2 pm on Tuesday, 24 July 1945, officiating Rev Harris Pillsbury, Bidwell Memorial Presbyterian Church. Is survived by two sons Chief Yeoman Robert William Simmons, USN, now somewhere in the Pacific, and MAJ Wilton L Simmons, fighting on Okinawa, and her husband William T. Banta.; and her aged mother Mrs Lizzie Allwardt, residing with her daughter Mrs Hulda Worden in Oroville, her brothers Charles Allwardt of Butte City, and a sister, Mrs John Rhoades of Redding. And one grandson (Charles F Simmons), the infant son of Maj and Mrs Wilton Simmons.
Floral tributes came from many, including Jens and Corrine Alm, Gilbert and Ericka Alm, and Marcus and Katherine Alm, Dr & Mrs Plez Guynn, Mr and Mrs Ed Handley, Mr & Mrs Theodore Meriam, Fred and Thelma Reichmann, Effie Rhoades and sons.

BIOGRAPHY (Compiled from multiple sources)

Her PARENTS: Her father, William H. Allwardt was born in Mecklenburg, Germany on March 8, 1856. He was the son of John and Heiden Caroline Allwardt. He came to the US when he was 16 years old, about 1872. On 2 January 1877, William became a naturalized citizen of the USA; his occupation, farmer. For many years he resided in Iowa. Her mother, Lizzie Augusta Sander, was born in Muscatine, Iowa September 19, 1861. In 1881, William Allwardt and Lizzie Augusta Sander were married. William & Lizzie Allwardt had seven children, all born in US, the first five in Muscatine, Iowa, and the last two in Ft Bragg, California: Born in Muscatine were: Johan Christian (16Sep1882-13Apr1902), Walther Wilhelm (13Jan1884-23Mar1923), Ida Caroline (Allwardt) Simmons (9Dec1885-21July1945), Hulda Sophia (3Apr1887-20May1954), and Effie Rebecca (24 Jan 1889-3Oct1980). While the family lived in the town of Fort Bragg, California, the Allwardt's added two more children to the family: Oliver Hemerick (26Jan1891) and Carl Baldwin (21May1892-21Apr1971). William H. Allwardt died in Chico on February 18, 1922. Lizzie passed away in Roseville, CA on November 2, 1946. "As the Census of 1910 revealed, more than ten million of America's ninety-two million people had emigrated from Germany or had one or two parents from Germany or Austria-Hungary." Page 564, A Diplomatic History of the American People, by Thomas A. Bailey

Ida Caroline Allwardt was born December 9, 1885 in Muscatine, Iowa. She was the third child, of seven, born to William and Lizzie (Sander) Allwardt. Muscatine is on the Mississippi River, south of Davenport, in southeast Iowa.

In 1890, she and her family of seven (her two youngest brothers hadn't been born yet) moved to California, settling in the town of Fort Bragg on the north coast of California. Ida's parents Lizzie and William may have chose to leave Muscatine and travel 2000 miles to the small remote town in California on the word of Lizzie's two younger brothers, both of whom had left Muscatine earlier and as of 1890 were living in Fort Bragg and employed as carpenters(per the Great Registry of Mendocino County (California), dated October 1890.
(I wonder how they traveled to California, by horse-drawn wagon, or by train or by traveling down the Mississippi and then by ship to California?)

HISTORICAL FACT: Emigrants going west continued to use the Oregon Trail well into the 1890s. The transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869, providing faster, safer, and usually cheaper travel east and west (the journey took seven days and cost as little as $65). Its unlikely the Allwardt family traveled down the Mississippi and there took a ship, the most expensive means to travel to California. Travelers by sea had a choice of two routes: 1- make the long voyage around Cape Horn at the tip of South America, or sail to Central America, take a river and overland route to the Pacific, this was usually at the Isthmus of Panama but sometimes at Nicaragua, and occasionally through Mexico; and take another ship to San Francisco.
Fort Bragg History: By 1867 the reservation and military outpost at Fort Bragg were abandoned. By 1869 small lumber mills were being built at the mouth of every creek. Ranches were settled. By 1873, Fort Bragg had an established lumber port at Noyo. Soon after the fort was abandoned, the land of the reservation was offered for sale at $1.25 per acre to settlers. In 1885 C.R.Johnson who, with partners Calvin Stewart and James Hunter had been operating a sawmill in Mill Creek, moved their mill machinery to Fort Bragg to take advantage of the harbor for shipping. The company incorporated as the Fort Bragg Redwood Company. The Fort Bragg Railroad was founded to haul logs to the mill. The first rails were run up Pudding Creek and in 1887 reached Glen Blair. A San Francisco streetcar was purchased to carry loggers and their families on Sunday excursions to the woods.

When Ida was 13 or 14 years old, in 1899, her family moved east from Fort Bragg, on the coast, to Chico in the Sacramento Valley. Her father then secured a position on the Bidwell ranch. He soon became gardener about the Bidwell Mansion grounds in Chico and for many years worked under Mrs Bidwell's supervision in cultivating the beautiful flowers and shrubbery of the grounds. He became well known as the gardener for late Annie EK Bidwell at the Bidwell Mansion grounds. Mrs Bidwell donated the land to the city of Chico, that now is Bidwell Park.

Ida continued her education in the Chico public schools. In the 1890s, Elementary school in Chico consisted of grades 1 - 8. Grade 9 was wasn't added until 1898. Chico High School didn't open until 1902.

She attended the Chico Normal Training School, which provided a bridge in education from elementary school (grades 1 - 8) to the state teachers college, Chico Normal School. Chico High School opened in 1902.

California State Normal School was a teaching college system founded in 1862. The first normal school was founded in San Jose. The second normal school was founded in 1881 in Los Angeles; the third in Chico in 1887. A fourth was founded in San Diego in 1897.

Ida attended Chico Normal School (became Chico State College, then California State University at Chico). While a student at Chico Normal School, she lost her eldest brother, John (Johan).
May 1902 the Chico Normal School monthly publication, The Normal Record. on pg 7, the section at the bottom of the page, "Resolutions of Sympathy" included
"WHEREAS, Our Heavenly Father has seen fit to remove from the home of our esteemed classmate, Ida Allwardt, her beloved brother; and
WHEREAS, This great loss so deeply felt by her has awakened in our hearts the deepest sympathy, therefore be it
Resolved, That we, the members of the second term, extend to her our most sympathetic feelings; and be it
Resolved, that a copy of these resolutions be printed in the NORMAL RECORD and a copy forwarded to the bereaved family"
Isabelle Flanagan
Anna L. Kelly,
Cora Spencer,
Committee
(The Record served as both a student magazine and a commencement program for Chico Normal School. In the year 1902 it was published every month - except the Summer months of July and August).

Beginning on pg 12 of the February 1903 edition of The Normal Record included "The Normal Directory", an alphabetical listing of the approximately 250 enrolled students and their home addresses across northern California and a few from central and southern California. Ida was the fourth student listed:
Allwardt, Ida C., Corner of Maple and Fourth- Chico.

(The office staff of the California State University – Chico Meriam Library, Special Collections located the above entries in the archives)

1906 Facts of Life in the US
- The average life expectancy in the U.S. was 47 years.
- 14% of the homes in the U.S. had a bathtub, 8 percent had a telephone.
- A three-minute call from Denver to New York City cost eleven dollars.
- With a mere 1.4 million people, California was only the 21st most populous state in the Union.
- Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.
- More than 95 percent of all births in the U.S. took place at HOME.
- Leading causes of death in the U.S. were: 1. Pneumonia and influenza, 2. Tuberculosis, 3. Diarrhea, 4. Heart disease, 5. Stroke

On Oct 17, 1908, she married Charles Franklin "Frank" Simmons in San Jose.

The San Jose Mercury and Herald newspaper of Sunday morning, October 18, 1908, pg 10, column 1, "Marriage Licenses" included as the second of six entries:
"Chas. Simmons, a native of California, aged 24, and Ida C. Allwardt, a native of Iowa, age 22, both of Chico."

The Chico Record newspaper of Wednesday 21 October 1908 carried the following story:
"CHICO COUPLE WED IN SAN FRANCISCO
Although Frank Simmons and Miss Ida Alwardt of this city announced separately to their friends that they were going to San Francisco to visit with relatives, merely for short vacations, It is now known that they had another purpose. In view, for they were married in the metropolis last Saturday and are expected to return to this city soon to reside. Miss Alwardt is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Alwardt, residing in east Chico. She was reared in Chico and after completing the Normal Training school course attended the Normal proper for a period. A few weeks ago she left for San Francisco for a visit with relatives. The groom is the son of Mr. Wm M.A. Simmons, and for many years a resident at the corner of Sixth and Walnut streets. He attended the grammar schools and for the last few years has been a faithful employee of the Chico Soda works. He is an industrious, aggressive young man with many friends."

1908 – 1910, Post cards from CF Simmons to Ida are addressed to 4415 6th Street, Chico
The 1910 Census (11May1910) lists Ida and Frank's address as 330 Oak Street, Chico, and that the address at Oak Street is "owned" with a "mortage". Lists CF Simmons' profession as Bottler at the establishment, Soda Works.

Ida and Frank had three children, all of whom were born in Chico:
Robert William "Bob" Simmons was born August 11, 1909.
Wilton Lawrence "Bud" Simmons was born September 3, 1910.
Frances Elizabeth Simmons was born November 14, 1912.

The following insights on life in Chico around 1910 are extracted from the article, "Growing Up in Chico: a Memoir," by Ernest S. Whisman, which appeared in the Butte County Historical Society quarterly publication, Diggins, Vol. 21, No. 3, Fall Edition, 1977.
Pg 40, Chico was conveniently laid out between Big Chico and Little Chico Creeks. A sort of triangle on the south, called the Junction, was the hub of all the freighting teams coming and going in all directions, the Humboldt road carried the heavy freight to the Nevada mines. Dayton was a busy freighting center.
Teams of horses played a very important part in the transportation of supplies, so in place of modern service stations on every corner, there were large livery stables. The Fashion Stables, Green's, Mike Schott, Ferguson and Henry Corrals were some of the largest. The Henry corral took up the entire lock from Oroville Ave, Ninth, and Broadway south to Little Chico Creek.
Pg 41, The old Humbug road took off Park Avenue, following Edgar Slough in an easterly direction to the Covered Bridge and on to Paradise. I recall crystal blue water of Butte Creek, its banks lines with white native Sycamore trees, these draped with wild grape vines. Valley oaks and pussy willow grew on the hills coming down to the water's edge and between the rugged outcropping lava bluffs were differ pines and scrawny foothill oak.
Pg 42, The Sacramento River was navigable as far as Red Bluff and many grain farmers used the cheap river transportation to get their grain to the city and foreign markets. Many times I watched barges, loaded with grain, being pulled down the river by large paddlewheel steamboats, from the large warehouses at the Chico landing.
Pg 45, When it came time for me to be in school regularly, I found the Chico Vecino School at Oleander, between Third and Fourth, the closes. You got to school the best way you could, in those days, usually walking, The Chico Vecino School was a two-story, square, red shingled building. Miss Alice Springer was the lower grade teacher and principal. Miss Clara Osborne, my third grade teacher, was a tall, beautiful woman. She was strict, but kind and compassionate. I remember me teachers as though it was only yesterday. Salem Street School, between Seventh and Eighth, was a two-story brick school with a novelty wrought iron fence around the whole block. Mrs. Alta Wright was fourth grade teacher; Miss Alice Crum, the principal. The Oakdale School was a three-story brick building on Park Avenue and Eleventh Street, just south of the Little Chico Creek bridge. The principal was Mr Robbins. I graduated from the Chico Training School in 1915. It was part of the old Normal School, a training school for student teachers, located on West Fifth Street. Miss Emma Wilson was the principal.
Pg 51, Visualize, if you can, a nine-year old boy, barefooted, bare-headed, ragged pantaloons, standing at the iron entrance gates just looking in a that beautiful Bidwell Mansion. I was really awed as I stared into what was for me, a fairyland. Winding its way down through their huge estate from the entrance to the quaint wooden bridge, Chico Creek was lined with the most gorgeous blue hydrangeas I had ever seen. I'll always remember Mrs. Bidwell as a fairy god-mother, with beautiful white, wavy hair. Always dressed in finest white array, she fairly glowed as she sat regally in her black two-seated carriage, One of her trusty Indians, dressed in black western attire, drover he beautify, well-matched team of black horses as they set out for a drive. The Esplanade was beautifully laid out and tree-lined, with a bridle path and a carriage drive down the middle. Across the Esplanade from the Mansion, were the ranch buildings, flour mill, cannery and barns. General Bidwell died in 1900, and I never got to see him, but I shall never forget Mrs. Bidwell.
[Thank you, Ernest S. Whisman]

On or about April 15, 1913, Ida, her husband, two young sons and infant daughter moved to Oakland, CA in order that the little girl might receive the attention of a medical specialist. Frances died at their Oakland home on April 20, 1913. She was buried in the Allwardt plot of the Chico Cemetery.

San Francisco, "the city by the bay," the fall 1913 – summer 1916, was where the Simmons family settled, in a townhouse at 42 Lloyd Street in San Francisco. Lloyd Street is a narrow, steep, one-way block-long street off of Divisadero Street, near Alamo Square [a nice neighborhood, still as of Feb 2020].

June 1916, the Simmons family moved from San Francisco north approx. 120miles to Ukiah, which is about 100 miles west of Chico in. Ukiah was linked to San Francisco by the Northwestern Pacific Railroad which ran from Tiburon (north side of Golden Gate), through nineteen stops (towns, e.g. San Rafael, Santa Rosea, Healdsburg, Cloverdale, etc) before terminating in Ukiah.

23 June 1916, Friday, the Ukiah Republican Press newspaper included the following on pg 5:
"SNAPSHOTS AT THE WEEK'S LOCAL NEWS.
Mr. and Mrs. C.F. Simmons and two sons came up from San Francisco Wednesday to join her husband, who has opened the Ukiah Ice Works. They expect to make their home on Clara avenue."

The Simmons family settled into their new home at 122 Clara Ave.

The family moved north to Ukiah, California in late summer 1916 or early 1917. They made their home at 122 Clara Ave. Ida's husband became the proprietor of the Ukiah ice works, the Grace Bros Ice and Brewing Co,

In November 1918, her husband of ten years, Frank Simmons, died at their home in Ukiah, a victim of influenza. He contracted the disease while on a business trip to San Francisco the previous week. Ida and her two sons (Robert and Wilton) were unable to accompany the body to Chico, owing to their having been stricken with the flu as well.

Frank Simmons was a well known resident of Chico; was an active member of the Western Hose Company and the fire bell was tolled in his honor. C. Frank Simmons was elected a member of Western Hose Co in Chico at a meeting help December 5, 1902. Simmons was employed for many years by AG Eames of the Chico Soda Work. He was survived by two brothers and two sisters. One brother, Lewis Simmons was employed by the Sacramento Northern. Buried in Chico Cemetery on Saturday, Nov 23, 1918.

Ida entered the employ of the Chico Record newspaper in 1921 as a clerk.

In the mid-1920s, her youngest son, Wilton "Bud", left school to find employment. He lived in Yuba City, where he canned fruit. At age 17, Bud enlisted in 184th Infantry Regiment, California Army National Guard, on June 20, 1928. A 20 August 1929 letter from his unit commander is addressed to Pvt. Wilton L. Simmons, 125 Walnut Street, Yuba City, California. (We don't know what her elder son, Robert, was doing during this time).

On March 14, 1930, at age 45, and 12 years after her husband had died from the flu, she remarried William Taylor Banta (WT Banta was born Feb 9, 1888 in Slaughter, Washington). Ida Caroline (Alwardt) Simmons married William Banta (2 years and two months her younger) on March 14, 1930 in Reno, Nevada (11 years & 4 months after the death of her first husband, CF Simmons).

Sometime in 1930 or 1931, her son, Bud, left his work at the cannery and returned to Chico. Beginning in September 1931, and lasting through March 1941, Bud was a printer, operating platen and cylinder presses, typesetter, bookkeeping, in the small commercial plant of Hurst & Moore, in Chico. (I believe Bud lived in the Simmons family home as well, throughout the 1930s)

Chico, "the city of trees" in June 1930 had a population of 7,893 persons, of who 225 or 2.86% were unemployed. April 1931, Sacramento Northern Railroad discontinued the street car system in Chico, citing figures indicating losses over the previous 10 years. Sycamore Swimming Pool at One-Mile Dam on Big
Chico Creek in Bidwell Park formally opened for the first time on May 23, 1931. History of Butte County, Vol 1, by Joseph F McGie.

We are uncertain what her elder son, Robert William "Bob" was doing in the 1930s. Robert's first wife was Marion. They divorced in Reno in the summer of 1938. In April 1941, Robert's address was Waverly Way, Palo Alto, CA. In 1942, Robert's address was Apt 31, 795 Pine St in San Francisco. Robert enlisted in the Navy at age 32, on 28 January 1942.

Ida continued to work for the Chico Record through the 1930s and to the mid-1940s, for 24 years. She became chief accountant.

Ida & William Banta continued to reside in the Simmons home on Oak Street.

In March, 1945, at age 60, she was stricken suddenly ill and was forced to retire to her home at 330 Oak Street in Chico. Although she was given the best of care and medical attention she was unable to return to her duties and was finally taken to San Francisco for diagnosis and treatment. On July 21, 1945, Ida passed away in San Francisco at the Stanford-Lane Hospital (Stanford School of Medicine, 2398 Sacramento Street), late Saturday following an operation for a brain tumor. She had been taken to the hospital early in the week for treatment.

William Banta died April 30, 1956 at the Veterans Home in Napa California. He is buried alongside his wife, Ida Caroline Allwardt Simmons, in the Chico Cemetery.

PICTURES: To see the caption with a specific picture, place cursor on the picture and double click left.
To download a picture, double click right.

DIRECTIONS: Ida shares a grave & headstone with her 2nd husband, William Banta. To find the shared Banta grave & headstone in the Chico Cemetery, enter the cemetery on its east side off of Mangrove Ave, then around the garden and turn right (west); continue west, past the first left, until the cemetery road bends left to the south with cemetery section 26 on the left. The Ida and William's grave is 6-7 rows in, off to the east (left) of the cemetery road.

This FindAGrave memorial created and maintained by Robert Simmons, grandson of Charles Franklin & Ida Caroline (ALLWARDT) Simmons.